NASA manager recalls Challenger tragedy

I spent almost 30 years at NASA, the last 10 of which were the most rewarding, as well as the most challenging.

From 1979 to1985, I served as the Director of Procurement Policy at NASA HQ where I was responsible for representing NASA in negotiating the final version of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the regulation governing all federal procurements. As part of that responsibility, I toured the nation as part of a team to explain that new regulation. Also, my duties at NASA Headquarters required me to brief foreign embassy personnel on NASA’s procurement policies and explain how they could participate in our procurements. As a result of those briefings, my wife and I were often guests at receptions at several Embassies.

Moving from Headquarters to Marshall Space Flight Center in 1985, I served as the Director of Procurement until I retired in1988. During that time frame, I lead the team that negotiated the contractual settlement resulting from the Challenger accident.

Approximately six months after arriving at Marshall, I was in my office being interviewed by a GAO auditor and had just told him of my concerns about some of their prior findings, when my wife called to inform me of the Challenger accident. That was most unusual because my wife hardly ever called me at the office. Immediately after that call I turned on my desk radio to hear the news, after which the auditor offered to terminate the interview, and I agreed, but reminded him of my prior comments and concerns.

For the next three years, I was totally immersed in completing that project and started the process by issuing a “Stop Work Order” to Morton Thiokol, the manufacturer of the Shuttle Main engines after it was determined that those engines were the cause of the accident. At the same time contractors and movies in the Huntsville area called to offer their support including the use of their equipment to view the pictures of the accident.

I spent the next three years leading the team that negotiated the settlement agreement for that accident which resulted in Thiokol accepting a $10 million reduction in profit/fee under the contract and to perform approximately $409 million of work required to fix the problem and to replace the motor hardware lost in the Challenger accident.

As tragic as losing the Challenger was, it still brought about the ability of the NASA team to show that fellow Americans could again resolve problems and literally “rise above”!

Hamp is a retired Senior NASA Manager, industry consultant and trainer. He holds an undergraduate degree from Rollins College and a Master’s degree from the Florida Institute of Technology, where he was a former instructor in their graduate program. As a result of his Challenger settlement effort, he was awarded NASA’s Medal for Outstanding Leadership, one of its highest awards.